BUSINESS TAX NEGOTIATIONS RAMP UP IN SENATE -- “Top Senate Democrats and Republicans have launched an effort to renew tens of billions of dollars in business tax breaks, which could send a signal to financial markets that the two parties can find some common ground ahead of the looming fiscal cliff facing Washington at year’s end,” Manu Raju and John Bresnahan report for POLITICO.

--“At a closed-door Senate Finance Committee meeting this week, Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) implored members on both sides of his tax-writing panel to help advance a pre-Election Day package covering an array of business tax breaks known as ‘tax extenders,’ which could cost up to $35 billion depending on the scope of the plan. But Baucus’s pitch came with a catch: Lawmakers need to keep the expiring Bush tax cuts, the so-called Buffett rule and other politically charged issues out of the debate. The ranking Republican on the committee, Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, is working with Baucus on the tax extenders. … Baucus plans to meet with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid later this week on the tax-extenders package after questions were raised inside the Finance Committee on whether leadership would shield the emerging proposal from the political debates engulfing Washington.”

--“ The tax package is a fraction of the cost of the Bush tax cuts, but this list of tax credits — which deal with everything from alternative energy to mass transit — is a top priority for the business community, as well as special interests on K Street.”

-- There is some doubt within the GOP on the efforts’ usefulness: “[W]ith calls growing louder for a full-blown overhaul of the U.S. Tax Code, some fear that renewing a slew of special interest tax breaks would send the wrong signal as Congress appears poised to take on major changes to tax laws next year. ‘If you renew tax extenders, how are you going to reform it?’ said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), a member of the Finance Committee. ‘The point is it’s a wasted effort.’” http://bit.ly/LG9by4

THE NARRATIVE: SENATE LETS DIMON OFF EASY -- “[W]hen JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon arrived for his much-hyped hearing before the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday, he was treated, for the most part, like a friend among friends. He offered the requisite mea culpa, fielded mostly softball questions from a panel of senators who’ve taken thousands of dollars in contributions from his firm, and left a few hours later pretty much unscathed,” POLITICO’s Kate Nocera writes. “Apology issued, apology accepted. … The outside observer might have thought Dimon to be a wise Sherpa brought in to help the senators navigate the complicated world of finance, rather than the CEO of a bank that had just lost $2 billion in a risky hedge. Instead of the public berating many — perhaps even Dimon himself — expected, it quickly became clear the star CEO wouldn’t break a sweat.”

-- Among the eephus pitches lawmakers lofted toward Dimon: “‘There’s really no way for a regulator to catch this type of activity, wouldn’t you agree?’ asked Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who counts JPMorgan among his top donors.” Corker also called Dimon “obviously renowned” and “one of the best CEOs in the country.” Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) said the $2 billion loss wasn’t a big deal, since “during that same period, [the federal government] lost a trillion dollars.” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) asked Dimon if there was a danger of these types of losses occurring at less “well-capitalized” institutions. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) asked Dimon for advice regarding the deficit, and the CEO endorsed Simpson-Bowles. “Dimon jokingly offered to move to Washington to help members of Congress with their financial questions should they need him,” Nocera writes. http://bit.ly/LDfmnL

-- Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank goes as far to dub the upper chamber “The Wall Street Senate”: “Dimon went to Capitol Hill to be grilled about his bank’s loss of more than $2 billion on an investment strategy that amounted to a glorified game of craps. Members of the Senate banking committee were to determine whether stronger financial regulations would be needed to prevent such gambling. But tougher regulation is unlikely, given Wall Street’s bankrolling of panel members’ campaigns, and lawmakers acted as though they were wholly owned subsidiaries of JPMorgan.” Milbank argues Dimon didn’t go along with Republican efforts to batter Dodd-Frank, and notes Dimon’s acknowledgement the Volcker rule may have stopped some of the bank’s losses. http://wapo.st/KvIzTF

--The Wall Street Journal editorial board was apparently at a different hearing: “A particular goal of the Banking Committee session seemed to be to browbeat Mr. Dimon into giving up his public battle against excessive regulation. But the CEO, who happens to be a Democrat, didn't back down.” They note Dimon said he didn’t think regulators would be able to write an “adequate” version of the Volcker rule. http://on.wsj.com/K4i6qa

-- The paper’s news pages call him “cool and contrite.” “The normally combative Mr. Dimon was contrite for most of the hearing, apologizing several times for the losses and saying ‘the buck stops with me,” Victoria McGrane and Dan Fitzpatrick write. “But he grew feisty when Sen. Jeff Merkley (D., Ore.) asserted that J.P. Morgan would have failed during the recent financial crisis without ‘massive’ government intervention. ‘You were misinformed,’ Mr. Dimon said, flashing irritation as he said his firm only took $25 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program at regulators' insistence and wouldn't have suffered a fatal loss had American International Group Inc., the insurer that had to be bailed out by the government, failed.” http://on.wsj.com/L5tSVA

-- MORNING MONEY THEFT -- POLITICO’s Ben White reports: “Before JPM Chief Executive Jamie Dimon's friendly chat with members of the Senate Banking Committee, Massachusetts Senate candidate and former CFPB czar Elizabeth Warren called M.M. to vent on Dimon and what she views as his desire to continue to play by the same rules that crashed the economy in 2008: ‘He was driving pedal to the metal in a car with no brakes and he wants to keep on doing it. ... The Wall Street banks broke the American economy. They broke it one lousy mortgage at a time. They cost American families jobs, homes and retirement savings. And those same Wall Street banks want to keep playing the game the same way was because it works for them.’ ... On the Fed report on a nearly $50K reduction in family net worth from 2007 to 2010: ‘That nearly $50,000 could have been used to put kids through college and fund retirements, now it's gone. The two important events this week are Jamie Dimon testifying in front of the U.S. Senate and the Fed's report on what's happened to families.’”

--Jerry Kronenberg reports for The Boston Herald: “U.S. Sen. Scott Brown said JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon should return his $21.5 million 2011 bonus and incentives as penance for the bank’s recent $2 billion-plus investment blunder.” Brown’s Democratic challenger, Elizabeth Warren, has called for Dimon to step down from the New York Federal Reserve’s board. http://bit.ly/LLJf6w

FIRST IN HUDDLE: House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)’s team will release a video later today showing the economic benefits a refinery would have in towns across the country. The two-minute video features Ron Day, an environmental health and safety manager at the Tesoro refinery in Mandan, N.D., who talks about how the production facility has made his once-sleepy town more energetic. “We’re hustling, bustling, we’re growing,” Day says. “It’s a great opportunity again for North Dakota. Restaurants to car parts stores to repair shops -- they’re definitely being impacted in a positive way.” See the video: http://bit.ly/KXmAF9

PREBUTTING OBAMA – Speaker John Boehner’s office is out this morning with a video highlighting the still-weak economy and outlining the GOP’s plan to spur job creation in advance of President Barack Obama’s economic speech in Boehner’s home state of Ohio. “Friday’s unemployment report was a real punch in the gut,” Boehner says in the video. “Americans are again left asking the question, ‘Where are the jobs?’ Republicans have pledged to listen.” In the 1 minute, 15 second video, we actually get to see most of the 30-plus jobs-related bills that Republicans keep talking about. VIDEO: http://youtu.be/byGMmiuEvqU

THE ROGERS REPORT -- “The decades-old farm and food stamps coalition held in the Senate on Wednesday, as 13 Republicans joined Democrats in blocking a tea party-led effort to cut nutrition funding almost in half and shift control back to the states,” David Rogers writes for the hometown paper. “The 65-33 roll call came just minutes after a much narrower 50-46 vote in which sugar beet and cane growers beat back a bipartisan effort to phase out the farm bill’s sugar support program, which has long been criticized for shifting costs on to American consumers. Here, too, Republican votes for the tabling motion were pivotal. Fifteen GOP senators — including Western state conservatives — joined in support of the growers and Agriculture Committee leadership.” http://bit.ly/MQtXfW

**A message from the Communications Workers of America: Why won’t American Airlines follow the law? American Airlines is trying to prevent 10,000 passenger service agents from voting on union representation even though the National Mediation Board has ordered American to let the election move forward and Congressional leaders have weighed in. Hear the story from the agents themselves: http://bit.ly/LDBDCY

GOOD THURSDAY MORNING, JUNE 14, 2012, and welcome to The Huddle, your play-by-play preview of the day’s congressional news. Please be kind and send tips, suggestions, comments, complaints, corrections to skim@politico.com. If you don't already, please follow me on Twitter @seungminkim. Scott is @scottwongDC, Jake is @jakesherman, Jon is @jonallendc and Robillard is @PoliticoKevin.

My new followers include, but are not limited to @orndorffbham and @RepSandyAdams.

TODAY IN CONGRESS – The House is out. The Senate is in at 9:30 a.m. and will resume working on the farm bill. Votes are possible Thursday, though none have been scheduled.

AROUND THE HILL – Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. at Senate Swamp on their crop insurance amendment to the farm bill. House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), House Natural Resources Chair Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) and Rep. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) are holding a conference call with bloggers at 11:30 a.m. on the Domestic Energy and Jobs Act.

Just off the Hill, Republican Sens. and Rob Portman of Ohio and Marco Rubio of Florida are both speaking at lunch at the 2012 Faith & Freedom Conference and Strategy Briefing. Portman is scheduled to speak at 12:30 p.m., while Rubio is on at 12:55 p.m. The three-day conference is at the Renaissance Hotel Marriott in downtown Washington.

POINT OF PERSONAL PRIVILEGE: A very happy birthday to your Huddler’s mom, all the way out in Seoul, South Korea.

PEARL JAM TO ROCK FOR TESTER -- Pearl Jam will play a concert in Missoula benefiting Sen. Jon Tester’s (D-Mont.) reelection bid. For a $10 donation, fans will have a chance to stand on stage during the concert, while $250 gets donors premium seating and access to a special pre-show event. For $500, you can attend a dinner the night before the show with Tester and Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament, a Montana native and Tester family friend. “Jon is the real deal. He’s a hardworking Montana farmer who has never forgotten who he works for or where he comes from. He’s one of us, a rare gem who truly represents Montanans in D.C.,” Ament said in a statement. The show is Pearl Jam’s only non-festival appearance in the United States this year. http://bit.ly/LzDCWC

NRCC BREAKS DOWN AD SPENDING -- The Washington Post’s Aaron Blake: “The National Republican Congressional Committee has reserved $18 million worth of ad space in 17 media markets spanning 25 competitive districts — one of the first windows into which districts the committee plans to pursue and defend this fall as they seek to retain control of the House. The ad reservations are split about evenly between districts where the committee can play offense and where they must defend vulnerable GOP incumbents, reflecting the NRCC’s desire to go after Democratic seats even as it strives to keep its majority.” The top five markets are Sacramento, where the committee is spending just over $3 million; Boston, where it has purchased $2.2 million worth of time; Denver, which sees a $1.6 million buy; Las Vegas, where they’ll gamble $1.6 million; and Pittsburgh, where they’ve ponied up $1.3 million. http://wapo.st/LUvm2f

-- More from Kucinich: “Thune, 51, has been the subject of much vice presidential chatter the past few weeks, and he says he knows why his name comes up in these conversations. ‘There's a sense, when push comes to shove, they are looking for somebody from a different part of the country,’ he said. ‘Maybe somebody who is balance, in some ways, on the ticket and maybe somebody with Washington experience on the ticket.’ … So is he being vetted by the Romney campaign? ‘There's a process. We don't talk about the process,’ he said, sinking into his winged-back chair and waving the question away with his hands.” http://usat.ly/LmJ11h

GOP: WE’LL WAIT FOR ROMNEY -- Buoyed by a string of good news for presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, congressional Republicans are prepared to wait to pass major legislation on deficit reduction, tax reform and even highway spending until January, when a theoretical Romney nomination would begin, the Wall Street Journal’s Janet Hook reports. “Why not wait for the reinforcements?" Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) asks, summing up the new GOP consensus. http://on.wsj.com/LmdbDj

TRANSPO LEADERS EXCHANGE FIRE -- “Negotiations between the House and Senate on a new highway bill appeared to break down Wednesday amid recriminations between the leading Democrat and Republican on the conference committee,” The Hill’s Keith Laing and Pete Kasperowicz report. “Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), the chairmen of the Senate and House panels in charge of the bill, traded accusations that each other’s party was holding up the talks. … The back-and-forth marks the first time the rhetoric of the respective chambers’ leaders has moved beyond niceties.” The major issues dividing the chambers are the additional $3 billion in the Senate bill, as well as the Senate’s requirement to spend money on beautification projects and the House’s insistence on including the Keystone pipeline in the package. Transportation funding runs out at the end of the month. http://bit.ly/KupJfA

MURRAY MUM ON MAINE -- “Cynthia Dill may be the Democratic Senate nominee in Maine, but she has yet to win an endorsement from the leader of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee,” Manu Raju reports for POLITICO. “Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chairwoman of the DSCC, wouldn't say Wednesday whether she would back Dill, a state senator who won her party's nomination Tuesday night. … Asked why she declined to offer an endorsement to her party's nominee, Murray said Democrats were ‘working with a lot of people up there’ and contended that the GOP had written off the state. Of course, the real reason why the DSCC is publicly mum on the race is that the heavy front-runner is former Gov. Angus King, an independent whom Democrats hope would formally caucus with their party if he wins in November.” http://politi.co/Llb5Uh

RUBIO TO CAMPAIGN FORALLEN -- Erika Bolstad reports for the Miami Herald: “George Allen, the former Virginia senator and governor who's once again running for U.S. Senate, will get some help tomorrow from Sen.Marco Rubio, R-Fla. Allen's campaign says the Florida senator will campaign for him Thursday morning at Company Flowers, a family-owned small business in Arlington. Allen, who won his Republican primary Tuesday night, faces former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine.” http://bit.ly/KGGe1y

KELLY MAY STEP ASIDE IN ARIZ. -- Republican Jesse Kelly, who lost races to both former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and Rep.-elect Ron Barber in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, is now weighing whether to continue with his bid in the state’s new 2nd District. He released a statement Wednesday saying he would announce his plans in a “day or two.” The Wall Street Journal’s Tamara Audi reports: “Two other Republican candidates plan to run in the primary. ‘After Kelly's two losses, he will surely have a more difficult time winning his party's nomination again,’ wrote the Rothenberg Political Report, a nonpartisan political analyst group. The report said Republicans may instead line up behind former Air Force combat pilot Martha McSally. Ms. McSally lost to Mr. Kelly in the special election primary, but may have more traction now, the report said.” http://on.wsj.com/M6eiGE

GOP SENS.: WITHDRAW IRAQ NOMINEE -- “Six GOP senators are asking President Obama to withdraw his nomination for the man he's tapped to be his next ambassador to Baghdad,” Aamer Madhani reports for USA Today. “Brett McGurk, who had served as a senior adviser on Iraq in both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, has come under fire after steamy e-mails were leaked on the Internet between him and Wall Street Journal reporter Gina Chon last week. Chon was forced to resign from her post at the paper on Tuesday.” Sens. Jim Inhofe, James Risch, John Barrasso, Mike Lee, Marco Rubio and Jim DeMint signed the letter. http://usat.ly/LG234S

KOS VS. KERREY -- Markos Moulitsas, the founder of Daily Kos and a major figure in the liberal blogosphere, declares he wants Democrat Bob Kerrey to lose in Nebraska: “Given the choice between a ‘Democrat’ that will lend a bipartisan veneer to efforts to dismantle Social Security—the most popular and successful government program in American history — and a Republican that simply reinforces GOP efforts to do so, I'll take the Republican. Easy. Any day of the week.” Moulitsas is happy the GOP will have to spend money defeating Kerrey, however. http://bit.ly/KFJESt

AG COMMITTEE: WE SURE ARE GREAT -- Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Pat Roberts, the two leading members of the Agriculture Committee, write a POLITICO op-ed suggesting the rest of Congress could learn from their example: “In the Senate Agriculture Committee, our hearing room doesn’t have a raised dais like the ones on TV. We work around a simple table — like the ones farmers and families sit around at the end of each day. It allows us to talk to each other, not at each other. Maybe that is why the Senate Agriculture Committee is the only one in Congress to pass a bipartisan reform bill that strengthens the economy and cuts the federal deficit. … Americans want Congress to create jobs and reduce the deficit. This Farm Bill does both — and in a bipartisan way. It passed out of the Agriculture Committee 16-5. Forty-five senators from both parties have written to the Senate leaders, urging them to bring this bill to the floor. It is time for everyone in Washington to set aside their differences, come sit at the table and pass this long-overdue reform.” http://bit.ly/Lm8QAc

KING CONTINUES RADICALIZATION HEARINGS -- Andrea Stone reports for the Huffington Post: “The chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security has scheduled a fifth hearing on radicalization within the Muslim-American community, this time calling American Muslims who are friendly to his cause to testify about their reaction to the first four hearings. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) announced Wednesday he would convene the hearing, titled ‘The American Muslim Response to Hearings on Radicalization within their Community,’ on June 20. The session is the latest of a controversial series that began in March 2011 and drew condemnation from Muslims and civil liberties groups, who likened the hearings to ‘McCarthyism 2.0.’” http://huff.to/LLPZBh

GOP STARTS ‘JUDGE BLOCKADE’ -- “With less than four and a half months until Election Day, Senate Republicans are shutting off the bipartisan spigot when it comes to confirming President Barack Obama’s nominees to the nation’s top courts and will present a unified front against his circuit court picks through November,” Roll Call’s John Stanton reports. “Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) made the decision to blockade nominations official Wednesday when he informed his colleagues that he would invoke the ‘Thurmond Rule’ from now until after the elections. … the doctrine holds that within six months of a presidential election, the opposition party can, and typically does, refuse to allow votes on circuit court judges.” GOP sources told Stanton the party will continue to allow district court nominations until September. http://bit.ly/MQpjyo

NORQUIST: GRAHAM HAD A ‘BRAIN FART’ -- Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) continued to make noise about moving beyond the Americans for Tax Reform pledge earlier this week. Grover Norquist is unconcerned. "This was a brain fart, not a real idea," Norquist told Slate’s Matt Taylor. "It doesn’t scare me. I think what he was doing was answering a hypothetical question to show how hypothetically open-minded he was about something." http://slate.me/LUucn7

WEDNESDAY’S TRIVIA WINNERS: These two answers flew into Huddle’s inbox within seconds of each other, so we’ll grant a double winner. Jack Howard and Bill Pascoe correctly responded that former Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) played his fiddle for the Grand Ole Opry when he was Senate majority leader.

TODAY’S TRIVIA – Another Grand Ole Opry question, this one courtesy of Jon Deuser: What former president played piano at the Grand Ole Opry, accompanied by country music star Roy Acuff? First to correctly answer gets a mention in the next day’s Huddle. Email me at skim@politico.com

THE NATS LINE – The Nats win six straight, closing out their series in Toronto with a sweep over the Blue Jays. More, from the AP: “Stephen Strasburg won his fifth straight start, Tyler Moore hit the first two home runs of his career and the Washington Nationals beat the Toronto Blue Jays 6-2 Wednesday to complete a three-game sweep. Ian Desmond also connected as Washington completed the first undefeated six-game road trip since the franchise relocated from Montreal. The NL East-leading Nationals, who swept Boston at Fenway Park last weekend, outscored the Red Sox and Blue Jays 31-16.” http://on.wusa9.com/M01MKL

WEATHER -- A cloudy start to the day, with sun breaking through later and highs in the upper 70s, according to ABC 7’s Brian van de Graaff.

GET HUDDLE emailed to your Blackberry, iPhone or other mobile device each morning. Just enter your email address where it says “Sign Up.” http://www.politico.com/huddle/

**A message from the Communications Workers of America: Why won’t American Airlines follow the law? It’s the most fundamental American right there is – the right to vote. But American Airlines is trying to deny that right to employees, against the advice of congressional leaders. It’s doing everything it can – both legal and not – to block 10,000 passenger service agents from voting on union representation. The National Mediation Board has ordered American to let the election move forward, but the airline is flat out refusing. They are defying the NMB by withholding address labels for a lawful representation election and filing a nuisance lawsuit against the agency, while continuing efforts to delay the election, which is now set to begin June 14. American Airlines’ attempts to stop employees from voting are unacceptable, unfair and most of all un-American. Hear the story directly from the agents themselves and learn more at http://bit.ly/LDBDCY

** A message from the National Confectioners Association – #AlwaysATreat: We’ve always created transparent, fun, and great-tasting treats. By 2022, Mars Wrigley Confectionery, Nestlé USA, Ferrero, Lindt, Ghirardelli, Russell Stover, and Ferrara Candy Company will work together to make half of their individually wrapped products available in sizes that contain 200 calories or less per pack. And, 90 percent of the best-selling treats made by these companies will have calorie information printed right on the front of the pack. During the same time period, the newly established AlwaysATreat.com will evolve into a digital resource full of easy-to-use information for consumers to better understand the unique role that chocolate and candy can play in a happy, balanced lifestyle. Learn more at AlwaysATreat.com. **

About The Author

Seung Min Kim is an assistant editor who covers Congress for POLITICO. Previously, she edited the Arena and served as a Web producer.

Before POLITICO, she worked at USA Today and the Star-Ledger of Newark. She also completed internships at The Des Moines Register, the St. Petersburg Times and the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Kim graduated with degrees in journalism and political science from the University of Iowa, and also has a master’s degree in journalism from American University. She is the current president of the Washington, D.C.-chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association.